Lenovo looks to pounce on rivals' VARs
New incentive gives competitors' resellers easy access to Lenovo's revamped partner programme
Lenovo is looking to lure competitors' reseller partners to its new-look partner programme, which is now home to the System x products that used to belong to IBM.
The One Channel partner programme has been given a lick of paint to mark the official integration of the System x products and partners, but the vendor insists it "maintains the founding principles of simplicity and predictability".
The Chinese vendor hopes the revamped programme will catch the eye of its competitors' resellers and is offering an incentive to get them to sign up.
Resellers that are already certified on rivals' products are being offered free access to the equivalent part of Lenovo's programme for a six-month trial period, after which - if successful - they will automatically become certified partners.
On top of this, Lenovo claims the integration of the System x business will make life easier for partners old and new.
"Lenovo has fully integrated the System x business into its channel scheme, meaning total Lenovo revenues now contribute to the partner status of Premium or Gold," Lenovo said.
"Channel partners will earn incentives on all business with a simple classification between PC and Enterprise business. This enhancement means partners need only to qualify once to be assigned either Premium or Gold status and benefits will accumulate across all lines of business."
Vincent Fauquenot, vice president of products and channels at Lenovo EMEA, said the programme changes represent its commitment to the channel.
"The channel is at the heart of delivering our remarkable run of results across EMEA," he said. "Our partners, which represent 95 per cent of our total business, have helped us to reach an all-time record PC share of 19.7 per cent in EMEA. We not only offer partners the most complete portfolio of any vendor in the market today, but are committed to keep on growing together.
"As we enter a new phase of growth there is an even greater opportunity ahead for partners as we fully integrate the System x business into our channel model - an opportunity for shared success where partners are the critical factor in achieving our ambitions of 18 per cent share of revenue in System x in EMEA and $5bn (£3.36bn) worldwide revenue."